Excellent student Nuria Spijker wins Spatial Sciences GUF-100 prize

During the Summer Ceremony of the University of Groningen on July 4, 2014, Nuria Spijker has received one of out of the nine GUF-100 prizes as most excellent student of the Faculty of Spatial Sciences. Nuria is a student in the MSc. programme Environmental and Infrastructure Planning. She has completed the courses of this programme with an average score of 8.5. In addition, Nuria followed supplementary courses on top of the required programme, including an extracurricular Intensive Programme on Spatial Development Planning in Ankara, Turkey.

Nuria is also known as a very social person and plays a crucial role in creating a safe, inspiring and productive learning environment for her fellow students. In the group of master students, which includes 13 nationalities, she has a central position due to her capacity to connect to and to reconcile very different perspectives. Furthermore, she is an appreciated member of the Education Committee of the programme, working with other students and faculty members on the continual improvement of the quality of the MSc. programme Environmental and Infrastructure Planning.

Currently, Nuria is finishing her thesis which includes a comparative study on socio-ecological practices in the transformation of urban landscapes in Groningen and London. Her thesis supervisor describes her as “…simply brilliant, critical and sharp as well as a very motivated, responsible and hard working student.” Nuria has the ambition to rework her thesis into an academic research paper.  

Each GUF-100 prize is worth € 2,500. Zoë Zernitz, winner of the Student Excellence Award 2014 for the best student of the year at the University of Groningen, received another € 2,500. The GUF-100 prizes for excellent students were first awarded in 1993 to mark the 100^th anniversary of the Groningen University Fund (GUF). Prizes were awarded every five years until 2010, at which point the GUF and the Board of the University decided to present prizes every year instead. The University of Groningen Excellence Award was first awarded in 2009 to mark the foundation of the University of Groningen Honours College. The winner is chosen from among the winners of the GUF-100 prizes.

> Click for a list of winners of all nine faculties